Best Cloud Database Software 2017: Airtable vs Knack vs Zoho Creator

Cloud database software makes it easy for anyone to create and deploy relational database-driven apps that help your small business manage and share data. We looked at the most popular options and rising stars and decided to review Airtable, Knack, and Zoho Creator. These companies covered the range of options for small businesses in terms of ease of use, features, and price.

We recommend Airtable as the best cloud database software for small businesses because it delivers the best combination of features and price with the easiest to use interface.

Little separates Airtable from Knack or Zoho Creator feature-wise. They all perform similar functions, and they all perform them very well. Creating databases, something that used to be quite complicated and specialized, is easy and accessible to all. And once your database is created, you can deploy an app so that users can add and edit data from anywhere.

The primary differences are in what each software includes for the price and the usability and friendliness of their interfaces. Airtable includes an unlimited number of bases compared to only three with Knack and 50 with Zoho Creator. As well, Airtable allows up to 5,000 records per base with no total limit versus 20,000 total for Knack and 25,000 total for Zoho Creator. Finally, Airtable includes 5GB of storage per base compared to 2GB for Knack and 1GB for Zoho Creator. All of these taken together make Airtable the most flexible software in terms of how many bases you can create and how much data they can include.

Like Knack and Zoho Creator, Airtable is dead-simple to use. After creating your account, you’re immediately presented with few brief introductory slides that conclude with you selecting three types of bases that might resemble ones you’d like to create yourself.

After selecting the three, your dashboard appears. The icon-based interface is extremely clean and easy to navigate and is our favourite of the three software. Bases are displayed at the top, teams follow, and then links to relevant learning resources below.

The three example bases you selected during setup are displayed at the top. You can click on each one to view sample data and layout, choosing to edit the template to suit your needs or use it along with the links to further learning resources in the bottom-right. Of course, you can also delete these examples and start building your own base from scratch. Regardless of whether you use a template or build your own, the spreadsheet-like layout is extremely easy to work with.

Finally, at $12/month per user, Airtable is priced lower than Zoho Creator at $15/month per user. However, at $39/month for unlimited users, Knack is the most affordable software of the three if your business will have four or more users.

We recommend Knack as the best cloud database software for four or more users because it offers very comparable features to Airtable, but includes unlimited users for the monthly price.

At $12/month per user for Airtable and $15/month per user for Zoho Creator, both options are more affordable than Knack — but only if your business has three or less users. At $39/month for unlimited users, Knack becomes the most affordable software of the three we reviewed if you have four or more users.

However, you do lose some flexibility with the lower price. Knack limits you to three databases, 20,000 total records, and 2GB of storage per database. This is less than Airtable’s unlimited databases, 5,000 records per database, and 5GB storage and Zoho Creator’s 50 databases and 25,000 total records.

We recommend Zoho Creator as the best cloud database software alternative. While Airtable and Knack are our preferred recommendations, Zoho Creator is an excellent alternative that performs all of the basic functions for a competitive price.

Airtable’s user interface is the most modern and easiest to use of the three software we reviewed, but one area where Zoho Creator stands out is in the initial setup process. Where Airtable and Knack both offer links to learning resources that are relevant to the screen you’re viewing, Zoho Creator goes a step further. It displays a translucent overlay that calls out various features, prompts you to enter data correctly, and visually explains each step in the database creation process. We found this to be extremely helpful.

Zoho Creator also integrates seamlessly with other Zoho products, such as Zoho Books, Zoho CRM, and Zoho Reports as well as other third-party apps like the Google suite, QuickBooks, Salesforce, and Twilio.

However, Zoho Creator falls short of both Airtable and Knack in pricing and what it includes. At $15/month per user, Zoho Creator is more expensive than Airtable at $12/month per user and will only be more affordable than Knack at $39/month for unlimited users if your business has three users or less. The 50 databases, 25,000 records, and 1GB of storage per user that Zoho includes are more than Knack at three, 20,000, and 2GB but less than Airtable at unlimited, 5,000 per database, and 5GB, respectively.

In-Depth Review: Airtable vs Knack vs Zoho Creator

Pricing

Most cloud database software is subscription-based, either priced monthly per user or a flat fee for unlimited users. Airtable, Knack, and Zoho Creator have different subscription levels, varying in their features and price. To be as consistent as possible, we compared the most similarly featured levels for each software based on a small business’ typical needs.

Airtable: At $12/month per user, Airtable was the most economically priced software of the three we reviewed. This includes:

Unlimited databases

5,000 records per database

5GB of storage per database

Airtable is also the only software of the three we reviewed to offer a free plan, which includes:

Unlimited databases

1,200 records per database

2GB of storage per database

Airtable’s Pro package, priced at $24/month per user, adds the following to the features above:

50,000 records per database

20GB of storage per database

Custom branded forms and personalized views

Priority customer support

Knack: Knack is priced at $39/month, but this includes unlimited users. If your business has four or more users, then Knack is more economical than both Airtable and Zoho Creator. Knack includes:

Three databases

20,000 total records

2GB of storage per database

Knack’s Pro package, priced at $79/month, adds the following features to those above:

Eight databases

50,000 records

10GB of storage per database

Priority customer support

Zoho Creator: Zoho Creator is priced at $15/month per user, which is the most expensive of the three software we reviewed. This includes:

50 databases

25,000 total records

2GB of storage per user

Zoho Creator also offers a scaled down version of their software for $5/month per user, which includes the following:

3 databases

25,000 total records

1GB of storage per user

Ease of Setup/Use

The primary benefit of cloud database software is to make it quick and easy for your business to store and manage data, replacing spreadsheets with more functional databases. Therefore, the easier the software is to use, the more of a benefit it will be to your business and the more likely you are to make full use of its features.

Airtable, Knack, and Zoho Creator are all extremely easy to use, clearly laid out, and the drag-and-drop interface is intuitive. Where they differ is in the assistance they provide during the setup process to help educate users on the software as quickly as possible.

During the signup process, Airtable prompts users to select three or more example databases from a list of prebuilt templates that they think may represent their needs. Then, once the account has been created, these example databases and their sample data serve as the basis for tutorials on how to use the software and its features. Users can then edit the templates to suit their needs, or build their own database from scratch.

Airtable, Knack, and Zoho Creator all have clean and clear user interfaces, but we especially liked Airtable’s icon-based one for its simplicity.

As well, a learning and resources guide with links to sections of Airtable’s comprehensive online knowledge base are always accessible at the bottom of the user dashboard.

Similar to Airtable, Knack also delivers immediate assistance on signup. Once your account has been confirmed, Knack presents a six-minute video that gives a high-level overview of the software, its feature, and how best to take advantage of them.

Knack goes above and beyond Airtable and Zoho Creator with an additional feature, though. All new users are offered a free hour of one-on-one assistance with a Knack support representative to help introduce them to the software and how to leverage it for your business’ specific needs.

Like Airtable and Knack, Zoho Creator also delivers introductory support immediately on signup. As you begin to navigate the software, it displays a translucent overlay that identifies and highlights specific features as well as prompts you to enter sample data to walk you through how to setup your first database. For anyone who learns best by doing, this is a very useful and well-executed feature.

Features

Airtable, Knack, and Zoho Creator adhere to the adage of doing one thing and doing it well. All three products enable you to build database-driven apps that help you to store, manage, and relate large amounts of data.

All three software deliver easy to use drag-and-drop interfaces that help you to build your database intuitively and with minimal technical knowledge. All three software offer the ability for multiple users to collaborate on the same database, as well as define workflow actions that trigger notifications. And all three software allow for third-party app integrations and have an open API to allow you to extend and customize it to your business’ needs.

Where Airtable, Knack, and Zoho Creator’s features differ is in how much data they allow you to store.

In addition to the amount of data that Airtable allows you to store, their user interface is another differentiating feature. Knack and Zoho Creator both have well-designed user interfaces, but we found Airtable’s to be the cleanest and easiest to use of the three. While this is a subjective preference, we wanted to note it as a feature that contributes to Airtable’s overall user experience.

Integrations

Third-party app integrations allow you to extend and customize your software to tailor it to your business’ specific needs. All three of the software we reviewed allow for many integrations, whether directly or using Zapier, as well as make their API accessible to developers for further customization.

For example, you can use Zapier to trigger certain actions when an event occurs such as sending an automatic email notification to specific people when a record is created or updated, send bulk SMS messages to phone numbers in your database with Twilio, or add new records to GitHub as issues to track.

Customer Support

Airtable, Knack, and Zoho Creator all offer comprehensive knowledge bases including tutorials, videos, and extensive documentation to assist you as you use their products. If you need more one-on-one assistance, here is what each of the three offer:

Airtable: At the price level we reviewed, Airtable only offers email support in addition to their online knowledge base. Priority support, which includes “faster response times and more in-depth assistance on implementation questions”, is offered at the Pro level at $24/month per user.

Knack: In addition to their online knowledge base, Knack also offers email and live chat support.

Zoho Creator: Zoho Creator offered the most customer support options, including phone and email support available 24×5 in addition to their online knowledge base.

The Bottom Line

Cloud database software makes it easy to build and deploy database-driven apps, such as web forms and other data management tools. The best ones are easy to use, intuitive, and make what used to be a specialized skill accessible to small businesses for minimal costs. Airtable, Knack, and Zoho Creator all offer excellent products, but the combination of ease of use, features, and price make Airtable our recommended cloud database software for 2017.

About the Author

Gavin is a staff writer at Fit Small Business, focusing on creating Buyer’s Guides on a variety of small business topics. Gavin has been at the intersection of content management and creation in the digital marketing world for over ten years. As a project and production manager, he led cross-functional teams and owned client relationships in the automotive, fashion, hospitality, and media industries. While working at various entrepreneurial startups, he created content for clients, rethinking their web presence and developing strategies to reposition their brands online. When he’s not writing, Gavin is a marathon runner, proud parent of an Australian Shepherd, and craft beer geek. He lives in Toronto, Canada.

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I think the review is not fair in that it compares the base pricing plan of Airtable against the Premium plan of Zoho Creator.
Again, since each of these products have slightly different pricing models, we have to fix the common denominator for the review.
Let us say, we are trying to find the best option for a small business who will have a need of 25,000 records, then Zoho Creator\’s $5 is the most affordable plan. If the business has 5 people, the monthly subscription is just $25 (5x$5) where as it will be $60 (5x$12 for Airtable). The business which chooses Zoho Creator gets 25,000 records and 5GB storage, whereas a business which chooses Airtable gets only 5000 records and 5GB storage space. Now, we can see that Zoho costs $25, Knack $39 and Airtable $60.

Thanks for your comment. You’re completely right that we need to compare against a common denominator. Your example illustrates one use case and uses 25,000 records in a single table. When I compared the services, I tried to look at a comparable price ($12/user for Airtable versus $15/user for Zoho) and what that gets you — and in that case, Airtable allows for 5,000 records/table with an unlimited number of tables versus 25,000 records and up to 50 tables with Zoho.

As you can see, it would be very easy for an Airtable user to have more records for less cost than with Zoho depending on the number of tables they create. For example, 10 tables with 5,000 records each would equal 50,000 records — double what Zoho includes.

Nonetheless, your example is well-received and we would encourage all of our readers to weigh their needs against what each service offers to find the best fit for them.

Let us say a business create a Base to manage their orders (order Base 1). They may use up 5000 records allowed in that orderBase 1 in a month or an year. What next? The will create another Base (order Base 2) to record their orders from the next month/year.
The advantage of unlimited bases works only if both theses bases (order base 1 and order base 2) can be related. Airtable help pages says it cannot be done. It wont be convenient for any business to have two different bases to manage their orders just because they touched the record limit.
Seeing Airtable’s Pro pricing plan, which says 50,000 records per base, I feel that Airtable wants customers to move from Plus plan to Pro plan when they hit 5000 record limit.

Now, Zoho Creator’s $5 plan offers 25,000 records which can be consumed all in one app (base) or across multiple apps (bases).

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